157 North Washington Street Paper - Gettysburg College

which Alpha Tau Omega now enjoys and will continue to enjoy by coming back and seeing for
yourself.” 20 Indeed, ATO and the other fraternities were growing in campus prominence as
evidenced by the fact that the College President, Dr. W.A. Granville spoke at the house
dedication, followed by a performance of the College orchestra. The house from which he spoke,
still stands today, and is an architecturally impressive neoclassical structure, with imposing
columns which dominate the surrounding buildings. 21 Robert Fortenbaugh Jr., an ATO of the
class of 1944 said, “that interesting front porch is what distinguished it,” 22 and although its
future longtime owner Sebastian Hafer personally liked the first structure, he admits, “this one is
more striking. 23
It was perhaps the prominent nature of the building that enticed Dwight and Mamie
Eisenhower to rent the fraternity house in May of 1918. Mamie had grown up in a wealthy
family and was accustomed to elegant homes, while Gettysburg’s Camp Colt was Ike’s first
substantial command position since graduating from West Point. When their rented apartment,
on the second floor of Ma Hutchinson’s General Store proved unsuitable to Mamie, who had to
walk through the store to enter the primitive space, the college provided the couple with the
empty fraternity house. 24 As Elwood Christ said in interview, Ma’s old store is now “Kollege
Korner,” and the storefront is still visible. According to Mr. Hafer, while the Eisenhower Society
created markers for each of the three WWI Eisenhower residences, a marker has yet to be placed
on the store. 25 As Mr. Hafer said, before renting the ATO house, the Eisenhower’s had “moved
from Army billet to Army billet,” making the frat house Mamie’s first home. 26 In his book Red
Carpet for Mamie, Alden Hatch incorrectly identifies their main Gettysburg house as one on
Springs Avenue which the Eisenhowers rented for only a month after the fraternity brothers
returned, and before Ike was transferred. This is a common misconception according to both Mr.
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